Ghana’s President Mahama By Abdallah el-Kurebe Accra, Ghana – May 23, 2016: Ghana plans to install a total of 56,000 solar systems, two million solar lanterns and 200 mini-grids in pursuance with achieving the global target of access to affordable and clean energy by the year 2030. The country has already 80 percent energy access, acting Director, Renewable Energy at the country’s Energy Commission, Kwabena Otu-Danquah has disclosed. Otu-Danquah, who represented Ghana’s Ministry of Power, stated this in a Keynote Address at the opening of a Smart Villages West Africa Regional Workshop organised by the Smart Villages Initiatives in…
Author: Abdallah el-Kurebe
By Abdallah el-Kurebe One hundred beneficiaries in Sokoto on Thursday received resettlement starter packs and cash incentives through the National Directorate of Employment (NDE’s) Community Based Training Scheme (CBTS) Artisan Resettlement and Mentoring Scheme (ARMS). Under the CBTS, 50 trained youth received starter packs for skills acquired in knitting, barbing, dyeing, dibila/snacks and sobo making machines. According to the acting Director-General of NDE, Kunle Obayan who was represented, “one hundred persons previously trained by the NDE but were not immediately resettled, will receive cash enhancement in the form of soft loan to improve their already existing businesses under (ARMS).” He…
Sokoto IPP Plant Under Construction By Abdallah el-Kurebe The Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) said it has invested N3.3 billion worth of equipment to boost power infrastructure in Sokoto state. The project, executed under the Federal Government’s Integrated Power Projects (IPP) scheme, achieved substantial success because of the tremendous commitment shown by the state government to it’s success, a General Manager in the firm, Alhaji Muhammad Bunza, has said. “The N3.3 billion expenditure has resulted in the construction of three power substations in three locations in different parts of the state. The locations are Gagi and Farfaru in Sokoto…
Opinion piece by Reuben Maigwa, President of the Tobacco Association of Malawi (TAMA) LILONGWE, Malawi, May 16, 2016/ — The below opinion piece by Reuben Maigwa, President of the Tobacco Association of Malawi (TAMA) (www.TAMAlawi.com), was published today in the Nation. The SADC Regional Vulnerability Assessment estimates that an alarming 16% of the region’s population are food insecure. The effects of the current El Nino phenomenon have further deepened food insecurity in Malawi and the region more broadly. Indeed the volatility of climate change presents arguably the greatest threat to food security and, by extension, human security in sub-Saharan Africa.…
JAP interaction with LG UNICEF Consultant, NTRC in Sokoto South LG By Abdallah el-Kurebe Sokoto state government in collaboration with Centre for Disease Control (CDC) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have created special teams to capture missed children during the Immunization Plus Days (IPDs) at strategic locations across the state. The special teams include Ardo, which target Fulani itinerant settlements and those that target children in hospitals and markets. These are in addition to house to house teams, health camps, fixed posts and other special teams. In Sokoto South local government, Ardo teams, supported by CDC were posted…
Northwest Governors at the meeting on Agriculture in Kaduna By Abdallah el-Kurebe Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto state has said that closer collaboration among all stakeholders as well as regional integration were key ingredients for the expansion and sustenance of agricultural activities in the Northwest geo-political zone of the country. Speaking during a high level meeting of the governors of the region on Agriculture action plan in Kaduna on Sunday, the governor said that working together would ensure states’ access to finance and improvement of infrastructure that would support the sector. The meeting, coordinated by the Usman Bugaje-led Arewa Research…
By Abdallah el-Kurebe The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in collaboration with Sokoto state government have introduced certain interventions as Nigeria engages in the final fight against Poliomyelitis. Although it has been delisted from countries with endemic polio disease, efforts were being made towards certification of Nigeria as polio virus free country by WHO in the next two years. JAP members monitoring May IPDs At a meeting with Journalists Against Poliomyelitis and for Immunization (JAP), UNICEF disclosed that the Fund had Health Camps, Doctors Against Polio (DAP), Community Mallams, Qur’anic Mallams, Polio Survivors, Village Community Mobilizers (VCMs), etc as interventions…
Blown aspect of the hospital By Abdallah el-Kurebe Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal has ordered the closure of the state owned Murtala Muhammed Specialist Hospital located at Unguwan Rogo area of Sokoto town. This followed an unscheduled visit by the Governor to assess the state of facilities which many in the state described as appalling. Health professional have voiced concern over the substandard facilities at the hospital, and have urged the government to intervene for the benefit of the populace. A visit to the hospital showed that apart from lack of basic health facilities, the integrity of the buildings cannot…
Key Points: Off-grid technology can catalyse sustainable development for even the 1.1 billion without electricity in the remotest “last mile” communities Bottom-up approach key to achieving SDG7 Energy Access for All GoalHub and spoke models combining hybrid mini-grids and solar home systems can provide starting point Governments need to create integrated off-grid and grid extension strategies Small-scale finance and support for off-grid entrepreneurs now more important than centralised aid programmes Women and youth can play vital role Now need to move ambition beyond lighting and phone charging to demonstrating more productive uses of renewable energy 1.1 billion people are still…
By Abdallah el-Kurebe Sokoto State Executive Council, during its third meeting since its inauguration a year ago, on Wednesday approved the expenditure of N1,660,000,000 to procure 9,000 metric tones of assorted fertilizers for this year’s rainy season. Commissioners of Agriculture, Umaru Nagwari; Information, Abdulkadir Jeli Abubakar; Environment, Muhammadu Sifawa and that of Health, Dr. Balarabe Kakale jointly briefed news men shortly after the meeting. The Council also approved the purchase of rice faro variety for rice farmers as well as procurement of 16,000 water pumps for distribution to dry season farmers to the tune of N392 million and approved a…